Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Holiday decorating and memories

I love getting our Christmas tree and dressing up our house the weekend after Thanksgiving. Going through the ornaments and talking about where they came from, watching my kids' faces glow with enjoyment at putting up candy canes and stockings, having candles in my windows and remembering how much I loved falling asleep with them on when I was young. The memories and tradition of it all is just so wonderful to me!
This past weekend proved no different. In fact, there was an unexpected addition to it all that evoked even more childhood memories:

There's my little Caedon, his body burning up in fever and dealing with strep throat and the horrible rash that comes with it. He would hang some ornaments, sip a drink, hang some more, lay down, go play with toys, lay down some more...that's pretty much how Saturday went for the poor kid.

And when I looked over at him, my mind instantly went back to a Christmas season over 25 years ago, when my childhood friend Amanda was at my house, decorating and hanging up ornaments with me, my mom, and Grandma Markey. It was probably late afternoon when both of us started to not feeling well, and we each laid down on different couches near the tree, falling asleep. Both of us came down with the flu that afternoon...both sick on Christmas tree set-up day. I have such a hard time remembering things from my childhood, so it's funny how I can remember the feelings and people from that afternoon. :)

(Amanda and I, in the middle...she's the one with the great tan. I'm the pale kid with the rosy cheeks.)

I hope you are making Christmas memories of your own and enjoying this time of year!